Accomplishments

During his time on the Boston City Council, Michael built a strong record of accomplishments for the residents of Boston:

Arts:

Coordinated and chaired a concert for peace at Symphony Hall by the Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland, which included an orchestra made up of Catholic and Protestant youth from Northern Ireland as well as 500 Boston school children.

Environment:

Introduced a new program called Recycle Bank, which makes recycling easier and it gives residents more of an incentive to recycle.The more residents recycle, the more Boston saves since it’s cheaper to recycle compared to disposing of trash via an incinerator and/or landfill.

Education:

Secured an agreement with an online SAT preparation company called PrepMe to provide free SAT preparation for three Boston Public Schools to ensure Boston students have the best tools available to compete for scholarships and get into the school of their choice.

Secured an agreement with Operation Hope, America’s leading non-profit social investment banking and financial literacy empowerment organization, to provide free financial literacy training to Boston youth who work for the city over the summer. At the same time many of them are receiving their first checks, they are taught how to spend and invest them more wisely.

New Technology/Efficiency:

Helped introduce new technologies to assist Boston with its age old problems (i.e., snow, trash, potholes, etc.):

CitiStat: a government management program that many cities use from Baltimore to Somerville that results in greater efficiency/accountability, cost savings and transparency.

Pothole machines: a technology that helps cities like Boston fill potholes in a better, faster, and more cost effective way. Here is an example of the machine: http://www.fixroad.com/.

Snow melting machines: a technology that many cities use, including New York City, which allows cities to melt snow in a faster, greener, more cost effective way. Here is an example of one of the companies: http://www.snowremovalsystems.com.

Public Health:

Sponsored and passed legislation to make it easier for city employees to give the “gift of life” by giving them the necessary time to recover from donating an organ. The first recipient of this was Boston Police Captain Kelly McCormack who donated a kidney to his wife.

Public Safety:

Sponsored and passed legislation to ban certain “cop killer” guns, including the Five-Seven, and other 50. calber handguns and rifles. Weapons like these have no place on Boston’s streets.

Sponsored and passed legislation to close a gun loophole that gave a slap on the wrist to those keeping illegal weapons in their home. The issue was brought home when 8-year-old Liquarry Jefferson was shot to death by his 7-year-old cousin with an illegal gun.

Sponsored and passed legislation to raise the maximum age to join the Boston Police Department from 32 to 40 to allow more Boston residents to join the ranks of Boston Police Department.

Sponsored and passed Imette’s law, which was signed into law by Mayor Menino. The legislation ensured that all bouncers in Boston receive background checks to ensure the senseless, brutal murder of Imette St. Guillen is not repeated in Boston.

Developed and launched a billboard campaign across Boston featuring Kai Leigh Harriot who was paralyzed at the age of 3 after getting hit by a stray bullet. The billboard campaign was launched in an effort to quell the non-stop shootings in Boston during the summer of 06. The message of the billboard was, “Bullets Don’t Have Names….People Do!”